Man bites fellow passenger on Aer Lingus flight then dies

The distressed passenger, a 24-year-old Brazilian man, was said to have been “shaking violently” when he bit a man sitting near him on a two-hour flight from Lisbon in Portugal, to Dublin.

Cabin crew members were trying to handcuff the man before he lost consciousness. A doctor and nurse on board failed to revive him.

The flight was diverted to the south-west Irish city of Cork, where the man was pronounced dead on arrival by paramedics.

A map tracing the original route (Lisbon to Dublin) vs the diverted route (Lisbon to Cork)

The man was described to have suffered several seizures before losing consciousness, a male passenger told Cork’s 96FM radio station.

“The noise he was making was like something that I’d never heard before," he said.

“It was like a deep anguish, that is the best way I can describe it. It was very, very troubled."

Lisbon, Portugal Photo: Fotolia/AP

Aer Lingus issued a statement last night saying the flight had been forced to land due to a "medical emergency on board".

The passenger who was bitten was admitted to a Cork hospital, while the other 165 passengers and six crew members taken to Dublin by bus.

Cork police arrested a 44-year-old Portuguese woman, who was travelling on the same flight, after two kilograms of what was believed to have been amphetamine powder were found in her suitcase. The woman was detained on suspicion of drug trafficking and taken to Togher Garda police station for questioning, the Irish Times reports.

Cala Xarraca beach, Ibiza Photo: Fotolia/AP

It is not clear whether or not the arrest is related to the man's death.

The latest incident follows a violent attack reported earlier this year on a Jet2 flight from Newcastle to Ibiza, where a passenger had his ear bitten off mid-air. The man was said to have horrified families and children on board the flight as he ran down the cabin covered in blood with an ear that appeared to have been “just hanging off” according to passengers.